Look before you sit!

         Look before you sit...that is a lesson I learned a little too well yesterday during my math lesson.  We have been working with 3D shapes all week.  Yesterday, I thought that it would be fun to create some 3D shapes of our own using marshmallows and toothpicks.  I modeled how to make the different shapes for the class and I sat the finished products on the stool in the front of the classroom.  I was walking around the room helping students and monitoring their work and completely forgot that I had made some shapes and sat them on the stool.  After about 20 minutes I ended up back at the stool and without looking at the stool, I backed up to it and sat down.  I was sitting down for a couple of minutes and then I started thinking about the shapes I had made because I wanted to let a student use one at his desk for an example.  I could not find them and I did not remember where I had set the shapes.  I was convinced that a student had taken them when I was not looking and was now claiming the shapes as their own.  Finally, I stood up and turned around to write on the board.  What do I see when I stand up?  MARSHMALLOWS AND TOOTHPICKS SMASHED TO THE STOOL!  A couple of my students saw this on the stool and at about the same time we realized that if they were on the stool , then they must be on the back of my pants too!  We had some good laughs, and during my prep which was coming up in about 5 minutes I went into the teachers bathroom and cleaned them up.  This would happen to me on a day where I had a staff meeting after school.  I had to get the pants clean, I couldn't go to my last staff meeting with marshmallows dangling off the back of my pants!